International Business Machines is making lackluster progress toward its financial objectives, so investors should wait before scooping up more of its shares, according to Oppenheimer. The investment firm downgraded IBM to perform from outperform. It does not have a price target on shares. “The bull thesis will take longer to materialize, and we anticipate the stock will be range bound near term,” analyst Param Singh said Tuesday in a note to clients. “Therefore, we are downgrading IBM to Perform for now.” IBM plunged 25% on Tuesday, marking the stock’s worst day ever , after the software and hardware firm posted preliminary Q2 results that were weaker than expected. The company reported preliminary adjusted earnings of $2.93 per share on revenue of $17.2 billion, well below the FactSet consensus estimates of $3.01 earnings per share and revenue of $17.86 billion. It was slated to release its full earnings report on July 22. IBM’s failure to meet the Street’s bar could affect the firm’s ability to hit its full-year financial goals — a fact that could further drive down shares, according to Oppenheimer. “While there were a few bright spots (RedHat, HashiCorp, Confluent, server/storage), we believe it will be difficult for IBM to meet its full-year guide, or get “double-digit” CC software growth for CY26/27,” Singh wrote. Oppenheimer’s call goes against consensus on Wall Street. Of the 26 analysts holding IBM, just 9 have a hold rating on the stock, while 16 have a buy or strong buy on it, LSEG data shows. Shares have fallen nearly 27% year to date.
IBM just had its worst day ever. Here’s how Oppenheimer rates it
